Saturday, November 11, 2023, Rich Norris

 

Saturday Themeless by Rich Norris

It's old home week as the former LA Times puzzle editor makes yet another triumphal return. I was so surprised when the "Congratulations" window came up and I will point out some of my rough spots as I blog here. However, if  you look at the puzzle graphic, you can see where my last fill was a desperate guess at the Natick Rich planted at the conjunction of ABUJA and JANIE. I'll take a "got 'er done" out of petty cash.

Across:

1. Stop for an assessment: TAKE STOCK - A lot of NFL teams have doing that as we are near the halfway point of the season.

10. Reverence: PIETY.

15. Brown group: IVY LEAGUE 😀 Cleveland fit but...

16. "Mad TV" alum Lange: ARTIE.

         

17. Shade named for a river: NILE GREEN.

18. Callas title role: NORMA.

19. "Aww!": SO CUTE.

20. Outdoor: OPEN AIR - Junkstock is a huge OPEN AIR craft show 15 minutes from us

22. Occasion to eat bánh chu'ng: TET.

23. 2019 Tyler, the Creator album: IGOR.

24. Bridge installer's deg.: DDS 😀 My dentist has not installed any bridges for me but has crowned me several times.

25. Feature of an Oscar statuette: SWORD.

28. Rose __: PARADE - It was on our bucket list and we were not disappointed!

30. Syrup brand since 1902: KARO.

31. "__ here": SAME.

32. Gender reveal words: A BOY.

35. Singing competition, familiarly: IDOL - The first winner

36. Dominated, in gaming: PWNED - Leetspeak is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. 

37. Indian royal: RAJA.

38. Handout to the hungry: MENU 😀

39. Winery discard: LEES - All you want to know

40. Old ski lift: J-BAR.

41. Pair with quite a lot of pull: OX TEAM 😀

43. Type: KEY IN - Demonstrated by a very famous keyboarder!

44. Branch: ARM - The FBI is an ARM of the justice department 

46. Pro __: RATA.

47. Rival: VIE.

48. All smiles, in a Carroll poem: BEAMISH - The poem was never meant to make sense!

50. Soap named for a city: DALLAS 😀

53. Yupik craft: UMIAK - an open boat made of animal hide stretched over a wooden frame, traditionally rowed by Inuit women. Yeah, I knew that 😗

54. Kitchen counter: OVEN TIMER.

57. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" protagonist Crawford: JANIE.

58. Keyboard ornament: GRACE NOTE - an extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony of melody. My music teacher colleague's immediate first thought was of Patsy Cline singing Crazy.

59. Figure skating leaps: AXELS.

60. Word from the Greek for "working together": SYNERGISM - If everybody does their job, this could be a huge gain.

Down:

1. Solder element: TIN - If you know chemical symbols, you can see this is 60% Tin and 40% Lead

2. Zipcar parent: AVIS - What is Zipcar?

3. Luke's nephew: KYLO.

4. Whirlpool alternative: ELECTROLUX.

5. Proceeded without pause: SEGUED - The Beatles rocked the house on the Ed Sullivan Show and then Ed had to SEGUE to a magician named Fred Kaps. 

6. "The Goldfinch" Pulitzer winner: TARTT.

7. Pointed arch: OGEE.

8. Stick on a table: CUE 😀

9. Contests with numbered balls: KENO GAMES.

10. "Let's get toasty" fast-casual chain: PANERA.

11. Tend to a pressing task?: IRON 😀

12. Super Bowl debut of 2008 revived in 2022: E-TRADE BABY.

13. Hardly bold: TIMID.

14. Junior and senior: YEARS.

21. Mulled (over): PORED.

23. Rio region: IPANEMA - Tall and tan and young and lovely...

25. Take off the top: SKIM.

26. 13-time All-Star inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2023: WADE.

27. University town northeast of Augusta: ORONO MAINE - Hmmm, now what university is close to Augusta, GA? Oops...

A popular cwd city

29. Indian district known for a beverage: DARJEELING.

31. Crew taught by Gabe Kotter: SWEATHOGS.

33. California classical music festival city: OJAI - 82 miles WNW of LA

34. Story: YARN.

36. Court answers: PLEAS - A PLEA of "Not Guilty" isn't always the same as "Innocent"

42. Short rides?: TRIKES 😀

43. Off-__: KILTER - The Canadian Pavilion at EPCOT had a band called OFF KILTER who featured a bagpipe in their rock and roll show.

44. Nigerian capital: ABUJA - Yeah, I had LAGOS first too. The capital was moved from there to ABUJA over thirty years ago.

45. Century 21 rival: REMAX.

47. "Lovecraft Country" Emmy winner Courtney B. __: VANCE - One of those clues where you wonder whether the clue was Rich's or Patti's

49. Send: MAIL.

50. Campus figure: DEAN.

51. French mine: A MOI So cette maison est À MOIS (This house belongs to me)

52. Court units: SETS - In volleyball teams used to have to win five games to win a match. Games has now been changed to SETS like tennis. Last month, #2 Huskers beat the then #1 Badgers 3 SETS to 2 SETS.

55. Texter's emphasis: VRY.

56. __ sleep: REM.